Line Drive in the Paper Lifts Phils

It wasn't pretty, but the Phillies will take it. Tied 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, the Phillies didn't hit one ball out of the infield - actually they only put one ball into play - in scoring the winning run to take a 2 games to 1 advantage in the World Series. Last night's game ended about 1:47 a.m. EDT after a one hour-thirty one minute rain delay caused the first pitch to be thrown at 10:14 p.m., the latest start in World Series history.

The Rays had rallied from a 4-1 deficit, tying the game with a run in the eighth inning. But Rays reliver J.P. Howell hit Eric Bruntlett to start the home half of the ninth inning. Grant Balfour replaced Howell, and with Shane Victorino batting, immediately threw a wild pitch. Catcher Dioner Navarro quickly retrieved the ball and fired to second to try to gun down Bruntlett, but his throw sailed wide to the right side of second base and into center field, allowing Bruntlett to reach third base. Victorino was intentionally walked and Joe Maddon came out to discuss strategy with his pitcher and infielders.

Those infielders were increased by one when right fielder Ben Zobrist, a natural infielder, moved behind second base to give the Rays a 5-man infield. An intentional walk to Gary Dobbs loaded the bases for catcher Carlos Ruiz. With the infield and outfield playing in, Ruiz chopped a high Balfour fastball that a charging Evan Longoria could only whip home with an underhand, off-balance throw. The ball sailed high and wide and the Phillies had themselves a victory.

Though the game came down to the bottom of the ninth Jamie Moyer was the story of this game. The 45-yr old had struggled in his first two post-season starts, allowing 8 runs in 5.1 innings pitched. But his manager Charlie Manuel stuck by him, saying in his Friday news conference that Moyer had earned his World Series start. Now he's earned a second one, which would be a deciding seventh game if necessary.

Moyer pitch into the seventh inning, leaving with a 4-2 lead and one out. A third run was charged to him after an inherited runners scored on a ground out, but this was clearly Moyer's night. He kept the Rays off balance with his mixture of slow, slower, and slowest pitches. He quickly gave up a 1-0 lead in the second inning and Phillies fans had to be concerned. But after Ruiz's solo home run off Matt Garza in the bottom of the second gave the Phillies the lead back, Moyer took control. He allowed just two more hits through the sixth inning.

Moyer's counterpart, Garza, had been dominant in the first two rounds of the post-season, but struggled last night. Maddon had to come out in the first inning to settle him down after allowing a lead off single to Jimmy Rollins, a walk to Jayson Werth, and a wild pitch that moved both runners into scoring position. He allowed just one run, but was tagged for three solo home runs on the night.

Meanwhile the Phillies extended their lead when their two big men, Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hit back to back home runs in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-1 lead. The Rays big men continued not to deliver. Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria, who has to endure the asinine chant of "Eva" from the Phillies faithful, both went hitless last night and are hitless for the series. Their teammates did pick them up last night though.

Carl Crawford began the seventh with a bunt single and Navarro followed with a double to left to bring the tying run to the plate. The Rays seem to be specializing on RBI ground outs in the series and that trend continued when Gabe Gross' bouncer to Howard to cut the lead to 4-2 and moved Navarro to third. Chad Durbin replaced Moyer and got Jason Bartlett to bounce into another run scoring ground out that made it a 4-3 game, but prevented a bigger inning.

In the eighth, with Ryan Madson on the mound, B.J. Upton stroked a lead off single and stole second base with one away. The Rays aggressive play on the basepaths paid off when Upton stole third and scored on Ruiz's throwing error. But Ruiz would have the last laugh.


News and Notes

Pena and Longoria are now a combined 0-22 in the series.

Ruiz's game winner made the Phillies 2-33 with runners in scoring position.

Steve Carlton threw out the first pitch, which was made ironic since Moyer beat him for his major league win in 1986.

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Calling on the Ghost of the Bambino to Smote the Red Sox

Seriously, can we get a little help here? The Rays were seven outs away on Thursday night of reaching their first World Series. We already had the Red Sox obituary 90% written when Boston came back from a 7-0 deficit to force a game 5.

Then it was Josh Beckett last night, fighting off a strained oblique, to hold the Rays to two runs on four hits in five innings. Let us make this clear- we don't like Beckett, but he's gained our respect. Something his big mouthed teammate with the ketchupy sock will never get from us. Beckett says he's not hurt, but he clearly is. He doesn't have to point out to the media how much he aches and what he has to do to compensate for it or how big his bowel movement was that morning. He just goes and pitches, and he's become one of the best big game pitchers in baseball.

Another big veteran on this Sox team, which is John Sterling's words, "gutty" and "gritty", is catcher Jason Varitek. The Sox captain could very well be playing his last days in a Red Sox uniform. He's a free agent to be and wants a Jorge Posada like contract (5 years). But Varitek hasn't hit in a month of Sundays. He still calls a great game, but swings a wiffle ball bat against 95-mph fastballs. But last night Varitek reached into the past and hit a James Shields delivery into the seats in right field to put the Sox ahead for good 3-2.

A Jason Bartlett throwing error contributed to an insurance run and then the biggest difference, besides experience, between these two teams came to the forefront. The Red Sox were able to send out Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson, and Jon Papelbon to combine for four hitless, scorelss innings to even the series up at three games apiece.

The finale is tonight at the Trop with Jon Lester facing Matt Garza. We don't have to tell you who we think will win tonight's game. Now if some spectral force could have an impact...

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Dodgers Get their Fight on

Payback's a Bitch

The Dodgers didn't show a whole lot of life in the first two games of the NLCS, but last night they showed plenty of fire in a 7-1 win over the Phillies in Los Angeles. It was anticipated there would be retaliation last night after Brett Myers threw a pitch behind Manny Ramirez in game 2. Myers said the pitch slipped, but none of the Dodgers were buying it. When catcher Russell Martin was hit on the hand by a Jamie Moyer pitch last night and later was buzzed by a Clay Condrey fastball, there was no doubt what was going to happen. With a big lead and two out in the seventh, Hiroki Kuroda got retribution by going head hunting for Shane Victorino.

The benches emptied, and although there was plenty of yelling, finger pointing, and shoving, no fights came from it. The benches emptied again when the inning ended and Victorino had some choice words for Kuroda. This was a statement game for the Dodgers and in more ways than one.

LA took care of business early, making 45-yr old Jamie Moyer look twice his age. Already leading 2-0 in the first, Blake DeWitt delivered a bases loaded double to break the game open. Moyer was gone after retiring just one batter in the second inning. Charlie Manuel has to seriously reconsider his decision to have Moyer slated for a possible game 7 should the series go that long.

Once LA took care of their game, they went on the offense to let the Phillies know they will not be pushovers in the series. LA is back in this thing.

Box Score

Manny Being Manny

Evan Roberts of WFAN had some more amusing lines from Manny this morning. According to Manny, he's not likely to sign with the Mets in the off-season, because Shea is not a good hitter's park. Only thing is, Manny forgot the Mets will no longer be playing at Shea.

Manny also said he's looking for a six year deal. One would think that means he wants guaranteed money for those six years and not a shorter deal with options. One would think Manny is nuts and they would be right.

Games 3 and 4

Joe Blanton goes against Derek Lowe tonight as the Dodgers try to even the series. Meanwhile in Boston, the Rays and Red Sox resume their series with game 3. The 4:37 EDT start has Matt Garza going up against Jon Lester.

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The Daily Yankeeland - 9/4

Phil Mushnick takes a shot at "screamers" Michael Kay and Gary Cohen. (kudos to TBL for the find.)

As you know by now instant replay made its debut in last night's Yankees-Rays game. While the ESPN replays were inconclusive, ump Charlie Relaford and the office in NY were privy to a replay that showed the ball did clear the foul pole in fair territory before hooking into foul territory. The most remarkable thing, by far, is that only two minutes and 15 seconds elapsed before a ruling was made. Maybe the NFL can learn from it.

Jason Giambi played last night despite suffering a nasty gash to his eyelid after walking into a bathroom door.

Mike Schmidt congratulated A-Rod on passing him on the all-time home run list.

Via the Phillies' PR department, Schmidt said he was happy for Rodriguez, whom he spoke to during the introductions at the All-Star Game in July at Yankee Stadium.

"I want to congratulate Alex on 548 and wish him well the remainder of 2008," Schmidt said before the milestone blast.

Damon Opponheimer must rue the day he picked C.J. Henry over Matt Garza.

Bobby Murcer has been nominated for the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence. Fans can take part in the vote at Yankees.com.

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Mussina Keeps Ray of Hope

Mike Mussina did his job once again and this time out the Yankees offense provided some support too. The end result was a 7-2 Yankees win that kept them 7 games behind Boston in their every fleeting wildcard hopes.

Mussina scattered 10 hits over 6 innings, allowing 2 runs, 1 walk, and struck out 8, for his 17th win of the season. The veteran right-hander still has a shot at his first 20 win season with four more probable starts. Last night's win was career victory number 267, putting him in sole possession of 35th place, one win behind Jim Palmer.

The Rays struck first on a Cliff Floyd RBI single in the third and Rays starter Matt Garza blanked the NYers through the first three innings. But in the fourth, Derek Jeter singled and stole second base. Bobby Abreu's drive to center field fell just short of the 404-ft mark for an out, but it allowed Jeter to advance to third base. After a walk to Alex Rodriguez, Jason Giambi brought Jeter home with the tying run with a sacrifice fly to center fielder. The X-Man then struck. Xavier Nady hit his 9th home run since donning the Pinstripes to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead.

Mussina escaped a two on, no one out jam in the fourth with a double play ball and the Yankees took advantage a half inning later. Robinson Cano reached on a Garza error and moved to second on Jose Molina's sacrifice bunt. Johnny Damon brought him home with a triple to center, and he in turn would score on a Jeter ground out, for a 5-1 lead. Hideki Matsui added an insurance RBI single in the sixth as Trevor Miller replaced Garza.

Mussina exited the game after allowing back to back doubles to Gabe Gross and Shawn Riggans to start the seventh. But unlike Saturday's fiasco with Toronto, the Yankees were not going to blow this 6-2 lead. Damaso Marte allowed a single to put runners on the corners, but then struck out B.J. Upton swinging, and Carlos Pena looking for the first two outs. Joe Girardi was then able to revert back to the beginning of the season by bringing in Joba Chamberlain to face Rocco Baldelli. Chamberlain picked right up where he left off the last time he was in the pen, retiring Baldelli on an inning ending ground out.

The Yankees would add one more run in the eighth on Alex Rodriguez's 548th career home run, tying him with Mike Schmidt for 12th place on the all-time home run list. Reggie Jackson is next in line, but it will take 15 home runs to catch him.


News and Notes

Dan Giese was activated from the 15-day DL before the game and pitched a scoreless ninth inning.

Xavier Nady is hitting .299 with 9 home runs and 27 RBI in 35 games as a Yankee.

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The Pennant Race - 8/28

The Mets leap frogged the Phillies back into first place in the NL East. One day after blowing a 7-0 lead, the Mets came back from a 3-1 deficit behind a pair of Carlos Delgado home runs and beat the Phillies bullpen 6-3.

Rookie Glen Perkins won his 12th game as the Twins defeated the Mariners, 6-5, to move back within a game of the White Sox in the AL Central. John Danks and Lance Broadway got shelled in the Orioles 11-3 win over Chicago. Aubrey Huff and Brian Roberts drove in three runs each.

Joe Saunders had a rare bad start, getting knocked out in the second inning as the Angels fell to the A's 6-5. The Halos are still 28 games over .500.

The Rays maintained their lead over the Red Sox with a 1-0 dazzler against the Blue Jays. Matt Garza pitched into the eighth inning to pick up his 11th win. Carlos Pena's 27th home run was the game's lone run.

Jason Marquis, Carlos Marmol, and Kerry Wood combined on a shutout as the Cubs beat the Pirates 2-0. That pushed their lead over the Brewers to six games after Milwaukee lost to the Cardinals, 5-3. The Cards struck for four runs in the eighth and now trail the Brewers by 3.5 in the NL wildcard race.

Randy Johnson pitched well for Arizona, but the Diamondbacks blew a 4-0 lead and lost to the Padres 5-4. No harm though as the Dodgers lost to the Nationals again, 5-4. Tim Redding out pitched Greg Maddux for the win.
Other News

The Indians won again, their 10th straight, beating the Tigers 9-7. Kelly Shoppach hit his career high 17th home run. The Indians lost 10 in a row earlier this season.
Josh Johnson is back for Florida and excelling. He pitched a complete game last night in the

Marlins 4-1 win over the Braves, to improve to 4-0, 3.12.
Tim Lincecum is 15-3 after the Giants beat the Rockies 4-1. Lincecum struck out 10 in 7.2 innings pitched.

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Around the Horn - 6/9

Tampa is still in a feisty mood even though they are no longer playing the Red Sox. During yesterday's game with the Rangers, catcher Dionner Navarro and starting pitcher Matt Garza had to be separated. Garza was then yanked from the game by manager Joe Maddon, who later downplayed the incident.

The Angels have very quietly put together a 7-game winning streak, which ended with their loss to Oakland on Sunday. They're still not hitting, but their pitching continues to stand out. Imagine if they get Kelvim Escobar back healthy.

Every team in the American League is playing .500 ball or better, but it doesn't seem to be very good ball for most of the teams.

Despite a penchant for issuing walks, the Red Sox Justin Masterson is 3-0 after beating the Mariners yesterday. He'll get at least one more start until Dice-K comes back.

The White Sox have won 6 straight to take a 5.5 game lead on 2nd place Minnesota. Chicago is the only team over .500 in the AL Central.

The Tigers have probably lost Jeremy Bonderman for the season due to a blood clot in his right shoulder.

The Indians have definitely lost Jake Westbrook for the season after it was announced he'll undergo Tommy John surgery.



















The Padres turned up the heat again on Willie Randolph with a 4-game sweep. San Diego came into the series 13 games under .500. They won three straight 2-1 games and rallied on Sunday for an 8-6 victory.

In case you haven't checked Jay Bruce's stats lately - in 13 games he's hitting .429 with 3 home runs and 11 RBI, has 14 runs scored, and a 1.227 OPS. His teammate Ken Griffey Jr. still waits for that 600th home run.

Chipper Jones has a slight tear in his quad, but is only expected to miss a couple of games.

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Separated at Birth

Tampa's Matt Garza and Vanilla Ice

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Pettitte Gets Yankees Off on Wrong Foot

The Yankees don't know what to expect from their number 4 and 5 starters and from veteran Mike Mussina, but they knew they could count on Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte to give them quality starts. So far Pettitte has let manager Joe Girardi down in that respect.

Pettitte started out the season well, going 3-1, 2.45 through his first four starts. But since then he's pitched poorly in 3 of 4 outings and has allowed 16 earned runs in 21.1 innings. Those 3 poor outings have all resulted in Yankees losses. Last night it was the Tampa Rays sending Pettitte to an early shower in a 7-1 win at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees offense was flat as well as Rays starter Matt Garza dominated them through 7 innings. Pettitte looked sharp to start the game, but Jonny Gomes continued to be a thorn in his side this season. The Rays outfielder hit a game winning blast against Pettitte at Yankee Stadium back on April 5. This time Gomes ran the Rays into the early lead with a 2-out single in the 2nd inning and a stolen base. Former Yankees prospect Dionner Navarro had the first of his three hits on the night with a bloop RBI single to center field to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.

Rays phenom Evan Longoria doubled off the top of the right field wall to start the 4th and came home on Gomes' single to left. Navarro sacrificed him to 2nd and Gomes then stole 3rd Base as Eric Hinske walked. Jason Bartlett then provided the back breaker with a 2-run triple for a 4-0 lead. He would come home on Aki Iwamura's RBI single before Pettitte eventually wriggled his way out of the inning.

Garza meanwhile did not allow a Yankee to reach 2nd Base until the 6th inning when he allowed singles to Alberto Gonzalez and Derek Jeter. But Garza, who had already gotten Jose Molina to bounce into a pair of double plays, induced an around the horn double play from Bobby Abreu to end the inning.

The Rays tacked on a pair of runs against Chris Britton and Jose Veras before the Yankees finally scored a meaningless run in the 8th inning against the Rays bullpen.

News and Notes

Derek Jeter is 6-16 with 2 walks over the last 4 games, but just 2 runs scored. To exemplify the Yankees inability to score runs, consider that one of those runs came on his own home run.

Since his 17-game hitting streak ended, Hideki Matsui is just 1-11.

Alberto Gonzalez was 2-3 last night, is hitting .310, and has reached base in 9 of the 10 games he's had had at least one plate appearance. He definitely merits playing time over Morgan Ensberg.

		Final		1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8		9		R		H		E
		NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	6	0
		Tampa Bay	0	1	0	4	1	0	1	0	X	7	13	0
WP: M. Garza (2-1) LP: A. Pettitte (3-4)

NY Yankees
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
J. Damon lf	4	0	0	1	0	0	2	.274
D. Jeter ss	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	.309
B. Abreu rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	3	.295
H. Matsui dh	3	0	0	0	1	3	0	.323
J. Giambi 1b	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.177
M. Cabrera cf	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.270
R. Cano 2b	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	.188
J. Molina c	3	1	1	0	0	0	2	.214
A. Gonzalez 3b	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	.310
Totals	30	1	6	1	2	5	11

Batting 2B - J Molina (8, G Glover). RBI - J Damon (17). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Abreu 1. GIDP - J Molina 2, B Abreu. Team LOB - 5.

Tampa Bay
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
A. Iwamura 2b	5	0	2	1	0	2	0	.258
C. Crawford lf	4	0	1	0	1	2	2	.288
B.J. Upton cf	4	0	1	0	1	0	2	.295
C. Pena 1b	5	0	1	0	0	1	5	.209
E. Longoria 3b	4	2	2	0	1	2	2	.223
J. Gomes dh	4	3	2	1	0	0	1	.225
D. Navarro c	3	0	3	2	0	0	0	.362
E. Hinske rf	3	1	0	1	1	0	3	.257
G. Gross rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.205
J. Bartlett ss	4	1	1	2	0	0	2	.248
Totals	36	7	13	7	4	7	17

Batting 2B - E Longoria (4, A Pettitte). 3B - J Bartlett (1, A Pettitte). S - D Navarro. RBI - D Navarro 2 (12), J Gomes (10), J Bartlett 2 (8), A Iwamura (12), E Hinske (17). 2-out RBI - D Navarro. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Pena 2, J Bartlett 1, E Longoria 1. Team LOB - 10.

Base Running SB - J Gomes 2 (4, 2nd base off A Pettitte/J Molina, 3rd base off A Pettitte/J Molina). Fielding DP - 3 (J Bartlett-A Iwamura-C Pena 2, E Longoria-A Iwamura-C Pena).

NY Yankees
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
A. Pettitte (L, 3-4)	4.0	8	5	5	2	5	0	4.40
C. Britton	2.0	1	1	1	2	0	0	1.93
J. Veras	1.2	4	1	1	0	1	0	2.45
E. Ramirez	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Tampa Bay
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
M. Garza (W, 2-1)	7.0	5	0	0	1	3	0	3.86
G. Glover	1.0	1	1	1	1	1	0	2.31
T. Miller	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.76

WP - J Veras.

HBP - J Giambi (by M Garza).

Pitches-strikes - A Pettitte 81-50; C Britton 33-19; J Veras 31-22; E Ramirez 4-4; M Garza 108-68; G Glover 28-20; T Miller 8-7.

Ground balls-fly balls - A Pettitte 5-2; C Britton 2-4; J Veras 3-1; E Ramirez 0-0; M Garza 7-11; G Glover 2-0; T Miller 0-2.

Batters faced - A Pettitte 22; C Britton 9; J Veras 9; E Ramirez 1; M Garza 25; G Glover 5; T Miller 3.

Game Details

Umpires: HP--Dan Iassogna. 1B--Ron Kulpa. 2B--Rob Drake. 3B--Dale Scott. Time: 3:01. Attendance: 13,932.

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Breaking News: Twins-Rays swing 6 Player Deal

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting that the Rays and Twins have reached agreement on a 6 player deal that would send outfielder Delmon Young to Minny and pitcher Matt Garza to Tampa.

Also going to Tampa would be pitcher Juan Rincon and shortstop Jason Barrett. Shortstop Brendan Harris and outfielder Jason Pridie will be headed to Minnesota.

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